Archive for the ‘Medieval’ Category

This weekend the local HMGS-South group played a SAGA game. Consistent with the recent weather in Britain, the game was played on snow-covered ground. Each side had one battle board and shared the available activations and actions among the players.

Saxons organize their men.

Both sides enter the village.

Berserkers attack the Saxon warlord and his men. The Vikings are all killed in the melee. The Saxon warlord would prove to be impervious throughout the battle.

Vikings attack via two routes.

The victorious Saxons hold their ground.

Casualties were high on both sides, but in the end the Saxons had repelled all the Viking attacks and were declared the victors.

This weekend the local HMGS-South group played a game of Pig Wars. This time there were two sides instead of the usual free-for-all. The scene is Nottingham Castle, with a group of Sherwood Forest men about to be executed. The Sheriff watches from the top of the keep, accompanied by the captive Maid Marian.

Nottingham Castle

Will Scarlet and his band awaiting execution.

A Sherwood band waiting to be let into the castle.

Little John and a band of Sherwood men on the wall.

The Sherwood band outside is let in by Robin himself.

Nottingham guards clear some rebels away from the Keep door.

Sherwood men fighting to get into the Keep.

When we had to call the game due to the time, the castle courtyard had been cleared of the Sheriff’s men, but they still had the Keep well defended. The Nottingham side was ahead by one victory point.

This weekend the local HMGS-South group played a game of Pig Wars. Five bands of Viking, Saxon and Welsh warriors descended on a village market while one band of Normans attempted to defend it.

The village market, with the village idiot sitting on the left.

The village church.

Sir not appearing in this film.

To the north, the Norman crossbowmen (foreground) shoot at an attacking band in the woods.

To the south, careful negotiations keep peace among the plunder-hungry Saxons, Vikings and Welsh.

Vikings plunder the church and find…. a pig!

The Normans are now in a three-way shooting match.

The Welsh are holding an archery contest. Unfortunately, some arrows miss and hit Normans in the back. The village idiot is still sitting.

Viking and Welsh cooperate to systematically loot the town.

Norman ranks form up….

…and then receive a charge.

The last Normans are shot down by Welsh bowmen.

The Welsh just edged out a Viking band in loot (they had to count the geese and pigs) to win the game. No other bands came close, although the Normans will be honored for dying to a man to defend this squalid little village.

This weekend the local HMGS-South group played a Hail Caesar game. The fictitious encounter was set after the battle of Grunwald (or Tannenberg) in 1410. Surviving Teutonic Order forces are attempting to escape to the west. Polish–Lithuanian Union forces block the retreat while others arrive in the rear.

The mounted Order units attack the blocking force while the foot units block the pursuit.

Several command roll blunders hinder the pursuit force.

Top right: Order knights are fought to a standstill by Polish infantry. Polish Knights all but destroy an Order mounted division.

The Order attack to the west has failed and the Polish knights are finally ready to charge the Order foot.

The confused battle lines at the end.

After about four hours of play the casualties were about even but very heavy. The remaining Order units seemed to have no chance of getting safely to the west.

This weekend the local HMGS-South group played a game of Pig Wars. The scenario was set around the sleepy little village of Chelsea, located somewhere on the east coast of Britain, sometime after the Romans left, but before the Norman conquest (history can be so fuzzy on these events).

A sleepy village in Britain….

The local priest watches over his flock.

The market ready for a day of peaceful barter.

The market stalls are looted.

The ox wagons plod through the village unhindered, thanks to careful diplomacy.

Something frightful in the village church scares off the potential looters, so they burn it.

The Norman foot is eliminated and the mounted warriors beat a temporary retreat.

Retreating with the loot.

Two bands fight it out until one is eliminated.

In the end a couple of the players met their primary objectives and one left town with substantial loot.

Saturday the local HMGS-South group played a medieval battle at the Dogs of War shop using the Hail Caesar rules.

Gilgenburg Prussia, July 13th, 1410.

On July 13th, two days before the battle of Grunwald/Tannenberg, the Polish-Lithuanian army captured and sacked the town of Gilgenburg (Dabrowno in Poland today). In this hypothetical scenario, the Teutonic Order army arrives to defend Gilgenburg.

Approaching from the north (right in the photo), the Order forces are divided by the lakes. Order infantry deploys to keep Polish-Lithuanian light cavalry out of Gilgenburg.

Poor command rolls for the Order cavalry allow most of the Polish army to move east of the stream. Most of the rear Polish infantry division is driven off the table.

When the game ended both sides had lost 4 units (20%) and each side was threatened on the left flank. The Polish-Lithuanian light cavalry division had cleared the way to Gilgenburg.

This weekend the local HMGS-South group played a medieval castle assault game using the Tactica Medieval rules. It was quick and fun so we did it twice. In each case the defender’s heroic resistance was in vain.

The castle surrounded.

The white stones denote damage to the wall

Scaling parties approach the walls.

The attackers swarm in using scaling ladders.

The second game. The gate has taken a lot of damage and will be broken down soon.

On Saturday the local HMGS-South group played a dark age skirmish game using SAGA rules at the Dogs of War shop. This four-player game pitted the Saxons defending a village against two allied Viking warbands intent on loot. A Norman warband arrives to support the Saxons.

Saxons in the village surrounded by pigs, chickens, children, women and clerics.

A bow-armed Saxon levy on the ridge sees two Viking warbands approach.

The Saxon bowmen fire and retreat behind the ridge while Norman units rush to the left and right flanks.

Norman bows and crossbows pepper the Vikings on the wings. A strong Viking attack in the center causes many Saxon casualties and opens a hole in the shieldwall.

The Saxon counterattack destroys two Viking units. The Vikings depart, satisfied with their captured pigs, chickens and children.

In terms of combat the game was fairly even, but the Vikings left with enough loot to call it a victory.

On Saturday the local HMGS-South group played a dark age skirmish game using SAGA rules at the Dogs of War shop. This four-way game pitted the Normans defending a village against two Viking and one Saxon warbands intent on loot. There were also individual objectives (or grudges) for the warbands and a few strange characters in the village who could influence play.

Normans

Village with interesting characters

The Norman warlord rushes into the village to rescue his lady. The two Viking bands, wary of each other, approach the village. The Saxons hide in the trees.

The Normans are forced to waste time by the lady they ‘rescued’. The Saxons form up and advance on the village.

The Vikings go at each other, with one side losing two units.

A Viking warlord is killed and his sister captured by the other Viking (a secret objective).

The surviving Viking warlord retreats off the table with his captive, avoiding the oncoming Normans. We called the game at this point due to time constraints. The intact Saxon and almost intact Norman bands could still dispute the village.